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When a group of people with a similar interest come together in action, anything is possible. It was this belief that Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the rest of the countries founding fathers used as the major factor behind the creation of a new country.

Each of us with the help of our neighbors can do the same to improve our neighborhoods. Now I am not suggesting secede from the city, but succeeding from the crime and chaos that too many of our neighborhoods suffer from on a daily basis. A neighborhood association that is active and empowers it

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I work with the Creston Neighborhood Association, which is an interesting one because it recently absorbed the North End Neighborhood, which has an entirely different demographic.

I dare say that it has the most staff of any organization in town, but most of them are service learning positions that seem to do work more akin to a community development organization, like Lighthouse Communities without the real estate.

In my time, they've had a hard time finding things for me to do. I've got this notion that if you're not on the inner circle of an organization, there are limited opportunites to work with them. To be satisfied that your contribution is making an impact, you practically have to make it a parttime job.

I've noticed that one of the dinkiest associations have made themselves quite famous by concentrating all their time on an issue unrelated to the Black Hills neighborhood. I'm thankful that most of the organizations in town are populated by concerned residents and not extremist activists of one sort or another.